Tuesday,
November 29, 2005
Canyon spreads holiday cheer
By Angela Pacienza
TORONTO (CP) —
When George Canyon was 10 years old his parents gave him an
electric guitar for Christmas. He loved it dearly, using it
to play songs like Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues.
Canyon
recounts the story onstage during his current tour, Home For
Christmas, a sentimental concert series taking him to cities
big and small.
“It’s
fun. We’re having a blast,” he said over the line
from Winnipeg during a rehearsal earlier this week.
“I’m
having a lot of flashbacks. I’m remembering Christmases
that I’d completely forgotten of when I was a kid.”
A
family man, Canyon wanted to set up the tour so audience members
would feel as though they were sitting in a friend’s living
room rather than attending a country music concert.
“We’re
trying to create what I used to do when I was young,”
said the 35-year-old Nova Scotia-native, who now resides at
a ranch south of Calgary.
“We’d
visit friends and family ... at Christmas and visit and tell stories
and play songs and make eggnog.”
The
tour coincides with George Canyon’s Christmas, a TV special
that aired last week on Country Music Television.
As
well, Canyon has released a mini-album of carols, also called
Home for Christmas.
Canyon
says he’s feeling especially festive this holiday season
because his past year’s successes means he can finally
afford to take most of January off to spend time with his wife
and two young children.
Two
short years ago few people outside Pictou County, — population
4,000 — had ever heard the name George Canyon. Then came
Nashville Star, a televised singing competition in 2004 which
made him a household name among country fans on both sides of
the border. He’d been trying for a music break for 14
years.
He
quickly followed his second-place finish with an album, One
Good Friend. On top of being certified gold this year, the CD
has earned the velvet-voiced singer 13 awards, including four
at the Canadian Country Music Awards, in 2005.
He’s
sold out shows, opened for superstar Tim McGraw, and, perhaps
best of all, played the Grand Old Opry eight times in 2005 —
including one September night with Loretta Lynn.
“I’m
still just like a kid in the candy store,” said Canyon
of playing at the mother church of country music.
“If
they make me a member, I’ll try to be there every weekend!”
And
while Canyon is a country boy at heart, he still loves to strap
on his electric guitar now and again to play tunes outside his
genre.
He’s
even chatted about doing “something” with a certain
high school buddy who’s now the frontman of INXS.
Canyon’s
Christmas tour hits Glace Bay, Friday at 8 p.m.
For
tickets, phone the Savoy Theatre box office at 564-6668 or visit
www.savoytheatre.com. For more information, phone the Savoy at
842-1577.
On
the Net: www.georgecanyon.com
